DARIO Gradi is confident Crewe can remain an attacking force without Calvin Zola after the striker suffered a fresh injury blow.

Zola was poised to return after a month-long absence at home to Barnet today (3pm), but picked up an ankle injury in training, which has ruled him out.

The 16-goal leading scorer, who has also had eye and hamstring problems this season, is also a doubt for Tuesday's encounter with Grimsby at Gresty Road.

"Calvin's hamstrings are fine now, but his ankle went in training," said Gradi.

"He won't play against Barnet and I doubt he will be ready for Tuesday.

"It's frustrating, but we've played with-out him for a few weeks and got used to it."

Byron Moore and Shaun Miller have forged a partnership in recent weeks, but that may be broken up today as Clayton Donaldson is pushing for a recall.

"We are having to play a lot of football to find Byron and Shaun, but Clayton gave us a presence when he came on at Lincoln last Saturday," added the Crewe boss.

Gradi believes the games with two lowly sides could seal Crewe's play-off fate.

"We need to get a winning run together and the sooner the better, otherwise we'll run out of games," admitted Gradi.

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